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Danger And Violence Extreme
The Founding DAVE was founded in 1992, by Phil Vibert, a long-time manager who had become disenchanted with the American wrestling scene. Vibert was upset over the monopoly held by the Supreme Wrestling Federation in the United States, and felt that due to the SWF's influence, wrestling had become overly sanitized and commercialized. In October of 1992, he established Danger And Violence Extreme to provide an alternative to the overly simplistic characters, limited in-ring abilities and toned-down content of the SWF, which at the time was geared towards children. DAVE shunned the traditional emphasis on the battle between good and evil, instead relying on the wrestlers' natural abilities to work the crowd to garner fan response. The product of the company was geared towards an older audience, with promos and backstage segments often containing adult language and edgy sexual innuendos, and hardcore matches involving the use of lots weapons and often ending in one or both participants in the match covered in blood. The core audience for DAVE consisted of the "smart marks," at the time a narrow percentage of followers of wrestling, whose first concern was for in-ring ability and realism in matches (despite ironically being the segment of fans who knew that wrestling was scripted). DAVE found the majority of these fans in the Tri-State Area, particularly in the New York City and Philadelphia regions. The East Coast Wars DAVE quickly found success with its edgy, violent formula. With this success, Vibert was soon faced with competition. In the next few years, several new promotions sprung up in the Tri-State area, hoping to capitalize on DAVE's success. Philadelphia Power Pro Wrestling was the first to challenge DAVE beginning in 1993. Rapid Pro Wrestling followed in 1994, and Xtreme Fire Wrestling started in 1995. Like DAVE, these promotions relied on shoot and worked-shoot promos, blood-filled matches, and mature content to appeal to adult fans. While casual fans regarded each of the new promotions as revolutionary, the most devoted fans of DAVE saw the newcomers as little more than imitators. The hostility between the promoters of the four companies, the wrestlers, and the fans ushered in a competition known as the East Coast Wars, where each promotion would try to outdo the others, wrestlers would attack the rival companies in promos, and fans would routinely argue over which federation was the best. The tipping point of this war came in 1997, when Vibert was able to sign Nemesis to DAVE. At that point, Nemesis was poised to become the hottest heel in the SWF, when he was fired from the company after violating its strict no-blood rule in an over-the-top bloodbath involving Tommy Cornell. Free to implement his anything-goes style, Nemesis catapulted DAVE to the top of the East Coast Wars both as its hottest wrestler and creatively as its head booker. His influence gave DAVE the advantage over its three competitors, while giving it an increased prominence in the American wrestling market as a whole due to his revolutionary matches and ideas. Eventually, DAVE overtook the other East Coast hardcore promotions to the point that their owners had no choice but to sell their companies to Vibert. To explain their absence and assert the dominance of DAVE, a one-night, four-man tournament was held between the champions of the four companies under the guise of unifying the four championships, with one promotion left standing. Naturally, DAVE's champion Johnny Martin emerged as the victor, defeating PPPW's Chris Rockwell (currently SWF's Lobster Warrior) in the finals. The DAVE championship was henceforth known as the DAVE Unified Championship. The Decline While DAVE ultimately emerged victorious in the East Coast Wars and became arguably the number three promotion in the US behind the SWF and Total Championship Wrestling, it could not compete with the big money of the two largest promotions. Nemesis retired as an active wrestler in 2006, and while he remained as the booker, his absence in the ring was widely felt. Several other top stars departed DAVE for the SWF and TCW, as well as Japan and Mexico, for more money and a less physically demanding in-ring style. In addition, top sponsors shied away from the company due to its edgy product. The combination of these factors led DAVE to lose money for several years before ultimately folding in 2007. Title History Category:Promotions Category:Defunct Promotions